We♥KC! January 26-31, 2024, Upcoming concerts / shows (Kansas City / Lawrence, KS)

Read more Kansas City Music Guide.

Weather-wise, it’s been cold, wet, and foggy for too long, and in terms of live shows, January has as expected, started slow. But warmer temps and a busier calendar are just around the corner, though we still remain a little concerned at the number of announced tours skipping KC in favor of St. Louis, Omaha, or Wichita stops, which will hopefully get better.

Let’s take look at the Kansas City / Lawrence KS metro musical happenings for the upcoming week, from January 26th-31st.

continuing through Jan 28– Girl From The North Country, Kauffman Center, $61-$121.

The Tony Award-winning new musical is finally on its first proper North American Tour and has an early run in KC! (of course, it opened last fall in Minneapolis, and in a theater Dylan once even owned!)

Written and directed by celebrated playwright Conor McPherson and featuring orchestrations by Simon Hale, the musical re-imagines 20 legendary songs of Bob Dylan as they’ve never been heard before, including “Forever Young,” “All Along The Watchtower,” “Hurricane,” “Slow Train Coming,” and “Like A Rolling Stone.”

Set in 1934 in Duluth, MN, a group of wayward travelers whose lives intersect in a guesthouse are filled with music, life and hope. Dylan himself has seen it staged and approves, claiming it had him in tears by the end, though he had nothing to do directly with it and a film adaptation with Olivia Colman and Woody Harrelson is scheduled to roll very soon.

FRIDAY JANUARY 26

Radkey, Jan 26, The Bottleneck, $12-$15

The pride of St Joseph MO hits LFK with its usual bang, with latest single being "P.A.W" from 2019's "No Strange Cats". They'll be back in KC to open for Living Colour the day after the Super Bowl as well.

SATURDAY JANUARY 27

Acres w Holding Absence, Capstan, Casey, Jan 27, Granada- Lawrence, $22-$24.

The Portsmouth UK post-hardcore band have released a new music video for the track "A Different Shade Of Misery, the new single that marks their first new music since their latest studio album, Burning Throne, which was released in March of last year. The release of the new single comes as the band sign with Solid State Records and Tooth & Nail. A four-band night, so arrive early.

Ira Glass (spoken word), Jan 27, Lied Center-Lawrence, $19-$50.

Ira Glass is the host and creator of NPR's "This American Life", which is heard each week by over 5 million listeners on public radio stations and podcast.

Under Glass’s editorial direction, "This American Life" has won the highest honors for broadcasting and journalistic excellence, including seven Peabody awards and the first Pulitzer Prize ever awarded for audio journalism. In 2021 This American Life episode ‘The Giant Pool of Money’ was inducted into the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry, the first podcast ever so honored.

Nikki Glaser (comedy), Jan 27, Uptown, $40-$51

The St Louis native is out on her Good Girls Tour – in addition to hosting the guilty pleasure show, Fboy Island, she also has her own podcast, which launched in March 2021 through iHeartMedia and Will Ferrell’s Big Money Players Network and her first HBO comedy special, GOOD CLEAN FILTH aired in 2022 and was nominated for a Critics Choice Award for Best Comedy Special.

SUNDAY JANUARY 28

We the Kings, Jan 28, The Bottleneck- Lawrence, $25-$28

The Florida punk-pop band hasn't had a full length out since 2018's "Seasons Greetings from the Sandbar" but did release their "Saga" EP a couple years ago. Seeing them live was always the best place anyway, and the band is on the road with their Alien Invasion Tour, with special guests, 408.

MONDAY JANUARY 29

TUESDAY JANUARY 30

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 31

Mean Girls (musical), Jan 31, Lied Center-Lawrence, $21-$60.

Perfect timing for this live musical to hit a local stage – save the money you were using to see it in the cinema (where it’s topped the box office for three straight weeks) and splurge a little more for the national touring production.

Direct from Broadway comes the hit musical from an award-winning creative team, including book writer Tina Fey (30 Rock), composer Jeff Richmond (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), lyricist Nell Benjamin (Legally Blonde), and original director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon).

Based on the previous hit movie, Cady Heron may have grown up on an African savanna, but nothing prepared her for the vicious ways of her new home in suburban Illinois. Soon, this naïve newbie falls prey to a trio of lionized frenemies, led by the charming but ruthless Regina George. But when Cady devises a plan to end Regina’s reign, she learns the hard way that you can’t cross a Queen Bee without getting stung.

National Touring act coming to Kansas City, Lawrence, KS, Topeka, KS, or vicinity?  Let us know so we can spotlight the appearance-email johnc@weheartmusic.com